Global team putting Palestine on the map

When Nazmi Albadawi's mother Raja heard her son had been approached to play international football for Palestine, she didn't like it.

Albadawi's grandparents were among the estimated 700,000 who fled Palestine following the establishment of Israel after World War II and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Almost half a century later it would be Albadawi's own parents - Raja and father Nidal - making their own escape when they left Kuwait in the early 1990s after Iraq invaded the Gulf nation.

Albadawi grew up a world away from the troubled Middle Eastern region, living among fellow members of the Palestinian diaspora in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States.

With his mother fearful of what might happen to her son if he accepted the offer to represent Palestine and had to travel to the region, Albadawi knocked back the offer.

Thankfully for the 27-year-old, the Palestinian FA gave him another call late last year.

This time, with an Asian Cup on the horizon, Albadawi accepted.

In November he travelled to the land of his grandparents for the first time with Palestine playing Pakistan in a friendly in Al-Ram - a city occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.

Highlighting the difficulties Palestine faces as a football team, the match had to be postponed for a day after their opponents were delayed by Israel officials upon entering the country.

When the game did take place however, Albadawi scored the winner from the bench in a 2-1 victory and he's now in the United Arab Emirates where he and his teammates are preparing to face the Socceroos in a crucial Asian Cup match in Dubai on Friday.

"My mum was very, very worried at first as I think most mums are, but then after I went and after how much I loved it and how well I did and everything - it was really safe, there was nothing to worry about, nothing really to fear," Albadawi said of his international debut.

"Now her and my dad want to go too, they want to see it as well.

"They flew here to watch the games as well because it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in the Asian Cup.

"My mum almost started crying when she saw the Palestinian crowd at the first game because of all the passion and seeing all your people and everything. It means a lot to them as well."

The FC Cincinnati striker's story is just one of many unique pathways players take into the Palestine team, which is appearing in just its second Asian Cup after debuting in Australia four years ago.

As well as the American, Palestine's 23-man squad boasts players from all around the globe - Chile, Argentina, Slovenia and Sweden.

The team has become a symbol of hope for Palestine, a region which many nations - including Australia - do not diplomatically recognise as a sovereign state.

A battling 0-0 draw against Syria in Sharjah last Sunday sparked celebrations given it was Palestine's first point in an international football tournament and puts them firmly in the mix to qualify from Australia's group at the Asian Cup

That Syrian result was huge moment for a team which only was admitted into FIFA in 1998 and didn't play a match at home until 10 years later.

The global importance of football to those with Palestinian heritage is exemplified nowhere better than Chile.

The South American nation has an estimated 500,000 people with Palestinian heritage - the largest community outside Arabia - and one of the nation's top division football clubs bears the name Club Deportivo Palestino after being founded by Palestinian immigrants in 1920.

Yashir Islame, whose great-grandfather was Palestinian, played underage football for Chile but became a Palestinian international in 2016.

The 27-year-old is only too aware what results like the Syrian game and a potential victory over Australia mean to Palestinians all over the world.

"We know that we play football but it means a lot, not only in the football but also behind the football because the people from Palestine, every day, have problems with the occupation and this," Yashir said.

"With football you can make many people happy and we must be with this responsibility also.

"OK, football is one thing but, of course, we represent all the Palestinians around the world."

Having created history in their opening match, a win over Australia's injury-hit squad would effectively ensure Palestine's qualification into the knockout stages of the Asian Cup.

It's a situation which will ensure Australia face an opponent with no lack of motivation on Friday.

"Australia are a good team but we're not afraid of anybody," Albadawi said.

"In football anything can happen. Crazier things have happened. It's 90 minutes with two teams on the field."